Fourth of July at Tecumseh, 1883

Independence Day activities were reported
by the July 7, 1883, Tecumseh Chieftain: "We didn't
celebrate very profusely, but still all had a comfortable, quiet,
pleasant day of it. . . The Chinese firecrackers busted all around
town about as much as usual, but still the noise and confusion
which is usually allowed to jar weak nerves, was not so loud
and incessant as it has been in days gone before.

"The German population enjoyed themselves
in the square in the good old Teutonic fashion, music and the
mazy waltz and galup. Everybody had on their soft clothes and
quite a large number of people were in from the country, well-dressed
and an air of prosperity pervaded all of them. Right here, let
it be said that Johnson county can turn out a little the best
looking ruralists of any county in the state. The merchants sold
a good many goods, and their stores were full of loungers all
day (another argument for one of our theories--seats in the park).

"Along about eleven o'clock, just
as everything was calm, and the blue arch overhead gave signs
of continued calm a young man might have been seen slowly ascending
the steps of the band stand, mopping his face with the butt end
of a bandanna which was once the property of the Democratic statesman
of Ohio, Senator Thurman. Dispensing with preamble, resolutions
and introduction," the speaker for the day "proceeded
to pour forth a torrent of eloquence which abounded in Greek
quotations and Latin similes. . . . The subject matter of the
oration was not limited, on the contrary it took a wide range,
and we understand touched on history, diplomacy, surgery, anti-monopoly
and the tendency of politics to become personal.

"After dinner the crowd was thicker
and the weather warmer. At 3 o'clock a good many repaired to
the fair grounds where a race took place between Beecher and
Vesta Chief, which was won in handsome style by the latter horse.
After the third heat the weather became threatening and a good
many out of the four or five hundred gathered there left the
grounds. About dark a light rain began to fall which had the
effect to disperse the crowds on the streets, but which everybody
knew was of more consequence to the growing crops than the balance
of the Fourth. Thus, with no accidents, brawls, or fires, the
curtain was drawn on the Fourth of 1883."

The Chieftain also described Fourth
of July activities in nearby Elk Creek. The celebration there
was attended by a number of Tecumseh residents, including a Tecumseh
band.